As it happened: Breakaway takes the stage and a change on the GC podium after epic Dolomites queen stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia
The queen stage of the race – 5,000 metres of climbing and six classified climbs in the Dolomites
Hello and welcome to stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia!
There have been many hard days of challenges at this Giro, but none as hard as this.With over 5,000m of climbing to be taken on including the mighty Passo Giau, this is the queen stage of the race.
It’s also taking place in arguably the most beautiful and iconic landmark of the Giro - the Dolomites. These unique mountains will provide a stunning backdrop to the racing today, though the ordeal of climbing up them may make it impossible for the riders to appreciate the views.
The riders are waiting at the unofficial start, but short of two riders who finished yesterday - James Shaw, and stage winner Michael Valgren. Neither rider is injured, but their EF team have said they are pulling them out to 'prioritize their health, recovery, and preparation for the important block of racing ahead.'
EF pull Michael Valgren and James Shaw out of Giro d'Italia
The riders are on the move in Feltre for the unofficial start.
Jonas Vingegaard in pink and Afonso Eulálio in white, both of whom will be under pressure to defend their GC placings today.
Though most of this stage is spent either climbing or descending that isn’t the case for the opening 40km, which are all flat save for a few undulations. That could make it harder for the climbing stage-hunters to get into the break, while giving a chance for the heavier non-climbers to get a handy head start.
It’s all about survival today and making the time cut for sprinters like Paul Magnier, but he’ll be in good spirits after triumphing in yesterday’s stage and firming his grip on the Maglia Ciclamino.
Barguil is on the front trying to get a gap.
Multiple attacks are being made on what are draggy roads, but nothing's stuck yet.
Three men have a gap, including 2 Jayco riders.
Bouwman and Juul-Jensen are the two Jayco riders, and they're with Groupama's Rochas.
That move has been shut down and a new wave begins.
Nobody's gone clear, and Netcompany Ineos have taken over to ride at the front of the peloton with Ganna.
The pace being set by Ganna is discouraging anyone from attacking for now.
Netcompany Ineos have now fired two riders up the road, after Ganna's long turn at the front.
The Ineos attackers are Haig and Turner, and two riders have gone with them,both of them Red Bull - Vlasov and Denz.
This is intersting, as they're the teams representing the men third and fourth on GC, Arensman and Hindley.
All four have been caught.
Arrieta and then Donovan both attack, but both are brought back.
Four riders being led by a Groupama rider have a small gap.
But they too have been brought back.
The road continues to undulate up and down, and on this latest uphill section Teutenberg moves to the front.
A new five-man group is trying to form, featuring Chris Harper. He’s exactly the mix of quality climber while also being far enough down on GC to potentially let go that make him a candidate for the stage win from the break.
Narváez has had a mechanical and is out the back of the peloton. There is an intermediate sprint in the first half of the stage, but with a massive category one mountain to get over before it, it's likely beyond his realms of possibility to take points at.
Five new riders are up the road, Cavagna leadng them.
Actually that 6 riders, and 2 of them are Tarozzi and Mifsud.
Narváez hadn't dropped back for a mechanical, but rather for the medical car. It's unclear what's happened to him.
Crash for Donovan. He's up and looks OK but is having to wait for a new bike.
Narváez has been one of the starts of this Giro, but something must have happened to him earlier today missed by the TV cameras. That ends his hopes of competing for the points classification.
120KM TO GO
At the front of the race, still the attacks keep coming, but still nothing has succeeded in getting away.
A more promising group of about 15 have got a few seconds, but Red Bull aren't happy with hit and have put Moscon at the front of the peloton to chase.
Storer is riding right at the back of the peloton, and appears to be labouring a little. He needs to be on a good day as he has a seventh place on GC to defend.
The previous break was brought back, and now Harper has tried another move.
Harper has Stork with him.
Denz, Kulset and Dversnes are also with Harper and Stork.
This quintet is looking good, building a lead of 15 seconds.
110KM TO GO
Harper is remonstrating with the others to work more, but this group of five is nevertheless making headway, with a lead of over 20 seconds.
A chase group of ten has formed behind the leaders and are bearing down on them.
Those riders in the chase are: Kench, Christen, Bjerg, Pincarello, Rota, Garcia Cortina, Silva, Leemreze, Crescioli, Tarozzi and Tarconi.
The riders are getting very near the start of the first climb of the day, Passo Duran.
With the exception of Passo Giau, this one is the hardest of the day, averaging a brutal 8.1% for 12.1km.
Lidl are leading the chase in the peloton., presumably for their man Giulio Ciccone
The 11-man chase group has caught the 5-man lead group, and they lead the peloton by 40 seconds.
Bjerg leads the leading group onto the climb.
This is a strong group, but likely to start breaking up now they're going uphill. Denz is the first to be dropped.
In the peloton, Visma have moved to the front to ride tempo.
Dversenes and Turconi are dropped too.
Now come the attacks from the peloton, and there are some big names - Ciccone, Kuss and Mas are all trying to go clear.
Vingegaard has talked a lot about wanting to give his teammates a chance at a stage win, and Kuss here is enjoying the freedom to go for it.
The lead group is down to 11 riders.
Despite having Kuss in that group, Visma weren't happy with it and brought it back.
In the front group it's still Bjerg who's leading and setting the tempo.
In the peloton, Sobrero leads with his Lidl teammate Ciccone on his wheel.
Visma have let the wheel go, and this group being led by Sobrero and Ciccone have gone clear of the peloton.
The Ciccone chase group hae bridged up to the lead group.
Also in that group: Rubio, Mas, Poels, Van der Lee, and others.
Caruso is also in this group - and has just attacked out it.
Caurso is joined by Harper, Ciccone, Rubio and Van der Lee.
Caurso and the others who tried to attack out of the break, but Ciccone has attacked again.
Storer and Gee-West have attacked out of the peloton. Ths is getting complicated in the GC race - Storer and Gee-West are wary of Caruso getting up the road, as he treatens their GC placings, but their attacks put the men above them on GC, Eulálio and Hindley, under threat too.
Visma are still happy to ride tempo, however, with Rex riding tempo at the front of the peloton.
Storer has two riders with him to pace him, with Gee-West on his wheel. Storer in 7th on GC, Gee-West 6th.
Harper, Ciccone and Bettiol have attacked out of the lead group.
Arrieta and Sobrero are also in this Storer group, while Rondel and Barta are the two Tudor teammates he has with him to pace.
O'Connor is also in the Storer/Gee-West group.
O'Connor had dropped back from the group ahead, and has now been dropped from that group. He's shown fight today, but appears to be on another bad day.
Harper, Ciccone and Bettiol have been brought back.
It's still a large group of about 20 that leads, with the Storer/Gee-West chase group about 40 seconds behind, continuing to pick and and drop riders falling back from the lead group.
Bettiol is attacking again, and is again taking Harper and Ciccone with him.
It's mightily impressive to see Bettiol ride like this in his unfavoured terrain of the high mountains.
Mas has dragged about 5 or 6 riders to Bettiol, Harper and Ciccone.
Kuss and Van der Lee were two of those riders to come back with Mas.
O'Connor has been brought back by the peloton, still being led by Visma's Rex.
The front group now has twelve riders in it, the selection forming on this climb. They are just 2km from the top.
Behind, the Storer/Gee-West group is 43 seconds behind the leaders, and 43 seconds ahead of the peloton.
A few more riders have joined the lead group from behind.
Rubio is here, and will have his eye on the KOM points at the top. As will Ciccone and Van der Lee.
Bettiol is leading as they near the summit.
Van der Lee starts his sprint, but Ciccone comes around him.
KOM - PASSO DURAN
Ciccone wins the sprint. He bags 40 points for his efforts! Van der Lee was second to the top, Rubio third.
The lead group in full: Ciccone, Van der Lee, Rubio, Mas, Milesi, Kuss, Caruso, Pellizzari, Poels, Kulset, Bettiol, Hirt, Harper and Svestad-Bårdseng
90KM TO GO
The 14 leaders are 40 seconds ahead of the Storer/Gee-West group, and 1:23 ahead of the peloton.
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A snapshot of some of the riders in the break of the day.
Here are what the KOM rankings look like now. Ciccone is now getting within reach of Vingegaard, and there is a huge haul of points on offer today, if he and the breakaway can survive.
1 Vingegaard 214
2 Ciccone 173
3 Van der Lee 102
4 Rubio 100
5 Gall 96
The leaders have plunged down the descent, and are climbing again already, up the steep (9.4%) slopes of the 5.8km Coi climb.
The leaders went well on that descent, increasing their lead to the chasers to 47 seconds, and on the peloton to 2:10.
The Storer/Gee-West group is travelling up this climb quicker than any of the other groups at the moment, coming to with 30 seconds of the leaders, and over two minutes ahead of the peloton. That means Storer and Gee-West have both overtaken Afonso Eulálio on the virtual GC.
The Storer/Gee-West group has caught the leaders!
That gives us another very big group of over 20 riders at the front of the race.
The ten riders who have joined the fourteen leaders: Gee-West, Storer, Rondel, Barta, De le Cruz, Rafferty, López, Milesi, Sobrero and Stork.
This lead group’s advantage to the peloton is getting bigger and bigger, now up to 2:30. That’s putting Hindley, Arensman and Gall’s places on GC under pressure.
Ciccone accelerates, and Rubio is on his wheel.
80KM TO GO
The gap has come down to 2:05, but it's still Visma leading, with Red Bull, Netcompany Ineos and Decathlon not worrying about their GC placings just yet.
Ciccono and Rubio are pushing on and there's daylight between themselves and the rest of the breakaway.
Back in the peloton, there are only about 25 riders leftin it.
And one rider missing struggling at the back of it is Afonso Eulálio. He smiles at the camera, but is in danger of being dropped.
Back at the front, Ciccone and Rubio are nearing the summit.
KOM - COI
They both sprint for it again, and the outcome is the same as earlier - and it has been for the many mountain sprints they've engaged in, with Ciccone winning it.
The rest of the break crest the climb a whole 40 seconds back.
Now the peloton reach the top, still being led by Rex, 2:41 after Ciccione and Rubio.
There was only a very brief descent of the Coi climb, and they're going uphill again to the summit of Forcella Staulanza. This one's hard enough ,averaging 6.7% for 6.3km, but pales in comparison with what's to come.
Rubio and Ciconne go through the intermediate sprint in that order, but it's all moot, with Magnier poised to win that classification.
The big breakaway group is coming back to Ciccone and Rubio, with only 15 seconds now separating them.
Ciccone and Rubio leading the race.
70KM TO GO
Ciccone and Rubio are sustaining their lead to the breakaway again, at 25 seconds, with just 1km climb 'till they get to the top. The peloton is 2:10 behind the breakaway group.
Van der Lee is being absorbed by the peloton. He doesn't quite have the climbing legs to compete with Ciccone and Rbio for the mountains classification.
In the breakaway group, Harper has just attacked.
KOM - FORCELLA STAULANZA
Rubio opts not to sprint this time, meaning Ciccone takes them. Harper is third to the top, only a few seconds later.
Things had been calm for a while in the breakaway group, with the Tudor riders riding tempo, but Harper has livened things up again.
Still it's the tireless Rex who leads the peloton over the summit 2:40 after the leaders.
Harper has bridged up to Storer and Rubio.
Ciccone now has five points to claim to take the blue jersey from Vingegaard - so he's poised to take a big lead if he can keep this going by the top of the net climb, which just so happens to be the Cima Coppi - the Passo Giau.
Here's the full tory on why Jhonatan Narváez. It seems he was involved in a crash.
Triple stage winner Jhonatan Narváez forced out of Giro d'Italia early on stage 19
They're nearing the summit of the mighty Passo Giau. This will be one of the moments of the Giro!
Rubio, Harper and Ciccone hae started the climb, as well as Crescilloi, who joined them on the descent.
Now the rest of the break start the climb, and it's carnage already. Mas is one of the first to be dropped, and is followed in that direction by Poels, Stork and De la Cruz.
Those left in that break have caught the four leaders.
The peloton are on the climb, and riders are also being dropped - among them Ben O'Connor. He's set to slide well down the GC today.
Lidl have taken control of the lead group on the climb, with Sobrero setting the pace, with Ciccone and Gee-West on his wheel.
Gee-West needs 2:09 to take over Hindley in fourth place, and currently have about that exact amount of a lead on the road.
At last Rex is finished, but Visma still have strength in numbers, even with Kuss up the road. Lemmen takes over.
The lead group has gotten smaller. Left in it are: Gee-West, Ciccone, Sobrero, Storer, Rondel, Caruso, Hirt, Pellizzari, Kuss, Harper, Rubio and Svestad-Bårdseng.
Sobrero has finished, and Gee-West takes it upon himself to set the pace in the lead group.
The peloton is down to just 20 riders, with Eulálio just about hanging on at the back.
Red Bull take over the peloton with Ben Zwiehoff. His pace is too much for Campanaerts, who's dropped.
Vingegaard still has Piganzoli and Leemen with him.
At the front, Ciccone has taken over from Gee-West to set the pace.
This is an interesting situation for Lidl, who are racing on multiple fronts - to gain the blue jersey for Ciccone, propel Gee-West up the GC rankings, and at last claim their first stage win of the race.
Ciccone's work suggests he'll sacrifice himself for Gee-West in terms of going for the stage win, but if the latter can manage to take it, he'll also do Ciccone a favour by winning the KOM points available at the finish at the expense of Vingegaard.
Another DNF - Vernon has pulled out of the race. That's a shame, as he would have been a candidate for the stage win in Rome on Sunday.
Eulálio is still hovering at the back of the peloton, but still looks in good spirits. He looks at the TV moto camera and hangs his tongue out. While he stands to slide down the GC today from his current ranking of 5th, after the Giro he's had, anything he gains from here would be a bonus.
Zwiehoff still leads the peloton, which is riding tempo.
Eulálio offers another smile to the camera. He's riding well again, clearly feeling no ill-effects from his freakish crash yesterday.
The breakaway, being led by Ciccone.
Pellizzari attacks! They're near the summit.
Ciccone and Rubio follow, wantiing the KOM points.
Pellizzari might be after the Cima Coppi prize for reaching the highest point of the Giro first, this year at the top of Passo Giau. He won the prize two years ago, atop Passo Sella.
Rubio can't keep up with Pellizzari's pace and has been dropped.
Kuss attacks behind, Gee-West trying to follow.
Behind Kuss, Caruso, Storer, Gee-West and Hirt have formed a group.
Rubio has grabbed onto Kuss' wheel, and the two are about to reach the leading duo.
Back in the peloton, Visma have taken over again.
The lead quartert are just 1km from the top.
They are about to be joined by Gee-West and Storer.
They have caught them, so Storer, Gee-West, Ciccone, Rubio, Pellizzari and Kuss are all together as they near the top.
50KM TO GO
2:35 is the lead group's advantage over the peloton, which puts Gee-West up to fourth on the virtual GC and Storer to fifth.
Ciccone tries an attack, but is brought back.
Now Ciccone's teammate Gee-West sets a tempo, with Ciccone on his wheel.
Ciccone sprints again...
CIMA COPPI - PASSO GIAU
...and Ciccone wins the sprint comfortably! That will put him in the lead of the KOM rankings. After a tough Giro, he’s having a great day today.
Back in the peloton, Afonso Eulálio had a bad moment when he lost balance by nearly touching wheels with the rider ahead of him, losing contact with the peloton as a result. But he's managed to rejoin it again, suggesting he’s not quite at his limit yet.
Visma lead the peloton over the top, 2:30 behind the leaders.
Ciccone gets 50 points for reaching the top of the Giau, as well as all the prestige that comes with claiming the Cima Coppi. Rubio was 2nd for 30 points, followed by Gee-West, Kuss and Pellizzari.
They've plunged to the bottom of the Giau descent, the leaders with a 2:40 advantage on the peloton.
Gee-West is now on the virtual podium! His group are 2:56 ahead of the peloton, where Arensman is, which is more than the 2:42 he trails him on GC.
Arensman, Hindley and possibly Gall will have to do something about this eventually, but are holding back for now.
The leaders have started the penultimate climb, the Passo Falzarego, which has been rated category two for its 10.1km length and 5.4% gradient.
Gall's Decathlon are now responding to the threat posed by Gee-West an Storer, putting their domestique Scotson at the front of the peloton.
Ciccone is back on the front of the lead group on this climb, with Gee-West on his wheel.
There are now 8 riders in this lead group: Gee-West, Ciccone, Storer, Pellizzari, Kuss, Rubio, plus Hirt and Caruso who joined back on on the descent.
As things stand, with their lead at 2:50, Gee-West and Storer are up to 3rd and 4th respectively, and Caruso up to 8th.
Now Gee-West leads the group, Ciccone moving to the back of it.
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The leaders are 1.5km away from the Red Bull KM. Expect a bit of a sprint, with Gee-West and Storer wanting seconds for themselves, and Pellizzari and perhaps Kuss wanting to take them on behalf of their respective teammates Hindley and Vingegaard.
In the peloton, Netcompany Ineos are at last making a response. They've put a rider at the front of it to help pace with Scotson.
Gee-West attacks, looking for the bonus seconds.
And Gee-West takes them, gaining 6 seconds, with Storer second to gain 4 seconds.
Gee-West and Rubio are having an impassioned argument in the group. What about? Rubio leads the Red Bull Kilometre classification, so might have hoped they'd let him take the points - but with GC his priority, Gee-West can't be blamed for going for every second he can get.
Decathlon's Mühlberger had been leading the peloton, but is spent, leading it to Netcompany's Svestad-Bårdseng to take over.
Despite their work, the gap's up to over three minutes. Add to that the bonus seconds, and Gee-West has now overtaken Gall in second on the virtual GC.
They're only 500m from the top, and Ciccone is still here, poised to take more points.
Rubio attacks, trying to catch Ciccone off guard this time.
KOM - PASSO FALZAREGO
Rubio beats him to the line, for once - and Ciccone isn't happy about it! He's remonstrating with the Colombian for it.
Having been annoyed at Ciccone's teammate Gee-West for out-sprinting Gee-West at the Red Bull KM, Rubio has taken his revenge by doing the same to Ciccone at the KOM.
We don’t know how many agreed upon commitments between these breakaway riders have been broken, but they’re not happy with each other. With all these classifications and so many overlapping interests, there are layers upon layers to what’s going on it the break.
Ciccone is angry! He's carried on after the KOM sprint and now leads the race, tearing down the descent alone.
Ciccone is 20 seconds up on the rest of the break. But you'd have thought Gee-West would want him back in the group to pace and protect him.
The breakaway group at the front of the race, before Ciccone attacked out of it.
20KM TO GO
Ciccone s tearing down this descent, growing his lead over the chasers to 40 seconds. The peloton are making up ground on the rest of the chasers, brining them back to 2:10.
The updated KOM rankings, after Rubio pipped Ciccone for the last summit:
1 Ciccone 267
2 Vingegaard 214
3 Rubio 164
4 Van der Lee 108
5 Gall 96
Ciccone is pulling further and further away on this long descent. He's 53 seconds up now.
After enduring such a hard Giro, Lidl-Trek are transforming their fortunes today. As things stand they have the blue jersey, are pushing for the podium on GC, and possibly even the elusive stage win they have been chasing all race.
Netcompany are doing a good descent, bringing the Gee-West/Storer group back to under two minutes. Arensman’s third-place is intact again, just about.
This is some change from yesterday for Lidl, who were in bad spirits again after Milan's failure to win the sprint.
10KM TO GO
Ciccone is about to reach the bottom of the descent, his lead an even bigger 1:02. And behind, the Gee-West/Storer group are going backwards, now only 1:30 ahead of the peloton.
Gee-West and Storer are at risk of seeing a lot of their hard work today go to waste. And with the gap down this much, the stage win is up for grabs by those in the peloton too.
Ciccone is done descending, and now has a short flat section before the final 5km uphill, which averages a vicious 9.7%.
Despite the unfavourable flat road, Ciccone is maintaining his lead of just over a minute on the chasers.
Now they're places in 2nd, 3rd and 4th appear safe for now, will Gall, Arensman and Hindley battle each other for the podium spots on this final climb?
The peloton start the climb, Bernal taking over after a supber descent from teammate Svestad-Bårdseng.
Pellizzari and Kuss have gone clear from the rest of the chase group.
Mühlberger takes over at the front of the peloton from Bernal, riding for Gall.
There are only 9 riders left in the peloton, and Eulálio is just about hanging on still.
Not anymore - Eulálio is dropped.
Gee-West is about to catch Kuss and Pellizzari.
Mühlberger has reduced the peloton down to just himself, Gall, Vingegaard, Arensman, Hindley and Piganzoli
Ciccone's lead is coming down, to just 30 seconds ahead of Kuss, Gee-West and Pellizzari.
Gall attacks! Onl Vingegaard follows.
Hindley is chasing only a few seconds back, Arensman distanced.
Kuss has dropped Pellizzari and Gee-West, and is only 16 seconds away from Ciccone.
Kuss is looking like the prime candidate for the stage win the way things are shaping up. Gall is 50 seconds behind, with Vingegaard glued to his wheel, not taking any turns with his teammate Kuss up the road.
Kuss catches Ciccone 2.2km from the top - and flies straight past him!
Hindley has Pellizzari helping him, and dragging him back up to Gall and Vingegaard.
Gee-West has caught and passed his teammates Ciccone.
Pellizzari drags Hindley up to Gall and Vingegaard, and continues to work. He's looking to put time into the dropped Arensman, and try to propel Hindley ahead of him on GC.
Arensman has lost 36 seconds to the pink jersey group, which is enough to see him lose his third place to Hindley.
Pellizzari is finished as he goes under the 1km to go banner, and Hindley takes over. Only Gall and Vingegaard are left with him.
Kuss is growing his lead. 500m from the line, he's 22 seconds up on Gee-West. The stage is surely his.
Kuss is tired and rocking side to side, but about to take victory.
Gee-West takes second, at about 13 seconds.
Ciccone just about holds on for third, while Gall sprints for fourth ahead of Vingegaard in fifth, Hindley losing a seconds or two in 6th.
Now here comes Arensman, finishing at 1:45. That’s over a minute down on Hindley, so he slips off the GC podium.
Eulálio finishes at 2:25. He'll slide down the GC, but looks to have defended the white jersey from Piganzoli.
There’s so much to unpack from that stage! First a word on Sepp Kuss, who’s done sterling work for Jonas Vingegaard at this Giro, even as Davide Piganzoli has been his main climbing super-domestique. He completes the Grand Tour set with this victory having won at the Tour de France in 2021 and at the Vuelta in both 2019 and 2023.
All that while being arguably the most successful super-domestique in cycling history - if Vingegaard wins this Giro, it’ll be the 8th time he has been a part of a Grand Tour overall victory; four times with Vingegaard, three times with Primož Roglič, and once, of course, through himself at the 2023 Vuelta.
As for Giulio Ciccone, what a roller-coaster of a day he had. He swept up enough mountains points to take the blue jersey, and by a big margin, from Vingegaard. But he was angered by Rubio outsprinting him at the penultimate climb, then, coming within a few kilometres to the line was frustrated again in his attempts to win a stage.
Ultimately, it was a successful day for Ciccone though, who is now in prime position to take the blue jersey. He will have to get into the break tomorrow again, however, if he’s to be sure of winning it.
1 Ciccone 273
2 Vingegaard 216
3 Rubio 164
4 Van der Lee 108
5 Gall 100
And there was also plenty of action in the GC race, the main change seeing Hindley snatch Arensman third place. The Australian now leads his rival by 29 seconds, with just one more GC stage tomorrow to defend it.
Gee-West also made gains, but not as many as it looked as though he might earlier in the stage. He moves up ahead of Eulálio in fifth overall, but comes 58 seconds short of Arensman in fourth place.
For all of Storer's work, he struggled on the final climb, dropped by Gee-West. As a result he remains in 7th overall, but closes the gap to Eulálio in 6th to just 24 seconds.
The only other change in the top ten sees O'Connor drop out of it, and Bernal move up to tenth.
We haven't even mentioned Jonas Vingegaard yet. He left the limelight to Visma teammate Kuss today, happy to follow Gall's attacks rather than make any of his own. He was nevertheless imperious, and never once looked uncomfortable all day.
Here's more on Arensman losing his spot on the GC podium.
Thymen Arensman bumped off Giro d'Italia podium after team had tried to set him up in the Dolomites
Thanks for joining us, for a truly epic day at the Giro that lived up to the billing of queen stage.
The riders will have to do it all again tomorrow, the final mountain stage of the race, and the last realistic chance for any changes to the top of the GC. Jonas Vingegaard still has a stranglehold on the pink jersey, his lead over Gall in second at 4:03, but there is so much still to play for, from the podium spots, the Ciccone’s defence of the blue jersey, to the stage win on offer. We’ll see you again tomorrow for all the action!
